SERVING OVERSEAS. MEMORIAL DAY IS THE ONE DAY.. FORT KNOX OPENS IT'S MORE THAN 100 CEMETERIES TO THE PUBLIC. WLKY'S MARISSA ALTER HAS MORE ABOUT A FAMILY REUNION OF SORTS THIS HOLIDAY. more than 3500 people are buried at the 121 cemeteries on Fort Knox. This is the one day of the year friends and family can visit their graves nats driving.. IT'S A TWO AND A HALF HOUR DRIVE FROM WESTERN KENTUCKY TO FORT KNOX ... Nat THEN ANOTHER 20 MINUTES.. OFF THE BEATEN PATH.. Nat BUT PEGGY SMITH IS REUNITING WITH HER ANCESTORS. AMONG THEM.. HER GREAT GRANDMOTHER.. A WIDOW OF A CIVIL WAR VETERAN. and they went to church here and they lived here and now it's part of the fort knox SMITH BRINGS WITH HER.. A BOOK FULL OF RECORDS.. AND A MIND FULL OF STORIES.. BOTH HANDED DOWN FROM HER AUNT. I could just almost just cry bec it is so overwhelming and emotional to be here knowing they walked here..they lived here there's almost a sense of coming home nat Criss explaining something CRISS HELMKAMP IS FORT KNOX'S CUTURAL RESOURCES MANAGER.. HE SAYS THE MORE THAN 100 CEMETERIES ON SITE RANGE IN SIZE FROM A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL TO HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE. MOST ARE FROM THE FORMER AREA TOWNS THAT CEASED TO EXIST WHEN THE ARMY BOUGHT THE LAND IN 1942. fort knox's main mission is military training and most of our cemeteries are located in training areas or firing ranges.. so if we were to allow folks to come in on a piecemeal basis..we'd have to shut down training SO ONE DAY A YEAR.. THE CEMETERIES ARE OPEN.. AND PEOPLE VISIT FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. we've had folks today from florida..michigan..wisconsin.. Nebraska. we get calls and questions from them throughout the yr and then it all kind of culminates on memorial day MANY ARE GENEOLOGY BUFFS.. LIKE SMITH. WHILE HERE..SHE EVEN FOUND ANOTHER RELATIVE'S GRAVESTONE.. This is my past and you really don't know who you are till you know your past A PAST..SHE PLANS TO REVISIT ON MEMORIAL DAYS TO COME. some of abraham lincoln's relatives..including his grandmother bathsheba lincoln..are also buried here. That's why this is the most popular cemetary. Reporting from fort knox..i'm ma..wlky news ACCESS TO THE CEMETERIES WAS